Use a Learning Format, Don’t Use PowerPoint

In today’s workplace, more and more companies recognize building engaging team learning as a necessity, but the question often becomes, “what should that learning look like?”

We wanted to spell things out a little more clearly: do this when building team learning, and don’t do that. These best (and worst) practices can shape the framework of an effective and engaging learning program at any organization looking to increase employee productivity and confidence.

Do This: Use a format suited for learning

Managers and trainers can use any number of applications to organize and present information digitally, but not every tool presents a good learner experience. When building a plan for team learning, start off on the right foot by using software designed for learning. Many learning software options exist, and the very best solutions focus on building and sharing Lessons quickly, empowering teams with anytime access, and tracking the business impact of team learning.

Feedback and assessment are crucial to making learning stick. And with modern learning software, managers do much more than simply present slides of information—like build question-and-answer prompts to reinforce content for Learners. In Studies in Higher Education, Richard Higgins, Peter Hartley, and Alan Skelton discuss the importance of feedback through an experiment on that very topic:

While recognizing the importance of grades, many of the students in the study adopt a more “conscientious” approach. They are motivated intrinsically and seek feedback which will help them to engage with their subject in a “deep” way.

Learning software like Lessonly provides Learners with helpful feedback, when they work through a quiz, for example. Scored responses are stored in Lessonly’s Gradebook, enabling managers to track learning over time and administer help as Learners need it. Managers can identify both high performers and stragglers, and adjust content to help every learner achieve the most they can.

Not That: Use any old online tool

Many document creation tools are often repurposed as learning software, and PowerPoint is probably the worst offender. Despite its widespread use in higher education around the world, lecture-style teaching with PowerPoint slides in a business training setting can truly hamper the amount of information that Learners absorb. PowerPoint presentations have such a notorious reputation that Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter banned the program from a military summit because he wanted to “promote real discussion.”

Google Docs certainly offers fantastic content-creation and collaboration features—which make it easy for Managers to share the training manuals and learning documents they create. Unfortunately, such collaboration tools often lead to sprawling documents that are hard to consume. And Google Docs includes few default methods of content organization. So without tedious manual structuring, employees are left to sort through folders and prioritize their own learning. Our blog post on Google Docs points out an important distinction between learning software and Google Docs: Unorganized learning paths lead to Learner confusion.

Build an effective learning program with Lessonly

Progressive companies around the world use Lessonly to build effective learning programs that have tangible business outcomes. Take a self-guided, five-step tour of our team learning software and see how it works. Sign up today.